School district eyes moving administrators to empty Conant building

The Hamtramck Public School District is considering a plan to move some administrators into a Conant building that the district purchased in 2021 but never went ahead with plans to convert it into an elementary school.

By Charles Sercombe
Back in 2021, the Hamtramck Public School District was proud to announce that it had purchased two buildings to help expand services.
At the time, Superintendent Jaleelah Ahmed praised the purchases, saying:
“The purchase of these local properties through the district’s general operating fund, in tandem with other improvements we are proposing across Hamtramck Public Schools, brings a sense of renewed hope for the future of our district, and is another step toward giving our students all of the tools they need to succeed.”
Ahmed added:
“By using existing funds, the district will be able to add much-needed learning space at no additional cost to taxpayers. It’s both a good investment and a strong opportunity for our district.”
But instead of being a source of pride, or opportunity, the two buildings turned out to be white elephants that were never developed or used.
Those two buildings included the former Social Security office at 9324 Conant, and the former People’s Community Services, located at 8633 Jos. Campau. The initial plan for the buildings was to install heating and cooling systems, furniture and technology.
A major stumbling block in fulfilling that promise was that the worst of the covid pandemic hit in 2020 through 2023. For over a year, students were not even attending school in person, shifted instead to at-home virtual learning.
The pandemic also took a toll on Ahmed, who later went on paid medical leave to recover from the pressures of dealing with all of it, and then found herself running afoul of the school board at the time, which placed her on paid suspension.
The reason for the suspension was never explained.
Ahmed returned at the beginning of this year, but once again took a paid medical leave, which was never explained, and has been in limbo ever since.
The district insists she is still an employee, but refuses to say what she does to earn her $225,000 yearly salary.
In the meantime, the district has been under the direction of Interim Superintendent James Larson-Shidler, but, according to sources, it’s actually Board of Education President Jihan Aiyash who is running the district.
As for the buildings, there is now talk of moving administrative offices into the one on Conant, and selling the Jos. Campau building.
There had been an initial plan to convert the Conant building into an elementary school, but parents objected to having their kids traveling across town to attend there.
There was also a problem with a tenant who, unbeknown to the district, had a lease for a dental office at the Conant building, which held up renovation for a few years.
It was never explained how the district and its attorneys failed to realize that there was an existing lease.
The district is also going to spend money on making the Conant building usable at the same time that voters have soundly rejected one millage renewal and will likely vote against two other millage renewals this November.
If these repeat attempts to get voters on board with the millages fail yet again, the district would lose millions of dollars in revenue.
And on top of this, the student enrollment in the district has gone down, which is a further loss in revenue the district gets paid by the state.
Posted Aug. 23, 2024